Bowing to Trump in Euchre

IN THIS CHAPTER

Reviewing the rules and snagging a partner

Dealing the cards and nominating a trump suit

Surveying the card values and marking your score

Determining your bid and team strategy

Euchre is an excellent social card game, simple in concept but with a high degree of subtlety in the play. The game offers myriad variations because you can play it with any number of players and as a long or short game.

To play Euchre, you need the following:

Four players: Two teams, two players to a team.
A standard deck of 52 cards: Take out the ace through the 9 in each suit, making a deck of 24 cards for the game.
Paper and pencil for scoring: You can also keep score with some of the remaining playing cards. See the section “Tallying Your Score” at the end of this chapter for more information.

Acquainting Yourself with Euchre

Euchre is a trick-taking game at heart. Each player receives five cards, and you play one card at a time; the player who lays the highest card in the suit of the first card played — unless someone contributes a trump, in which case it is whoever lays the highest trump card (see the section “Determining the Trump Suit” later in this chapter) — collects all four cards and stacks them in front of him, thus taking the trick.

In Euchre, you win a hand and score points for taking the majority of the tricks in a hand, which means winning three or more of the five tricks available. You get more points if you take all five tricks (see the section “Tallying Your Score” at the end of this chapter). But to summarize: You score points for bidding and making a contract or defeating the opponents when they are trying to make their contracts. The first to a specified total of points, generally 10, wins the match.

You play the game with partners, but under special circumstances, one member of a partnership can elect to go solo — if he thinks that going alone is worthwhile. See the section “Playing for Bigger Stakes Alone” later in this chapter for the details.

Picking Partners

You play Euchre with two teams of two players, either with prearranged partnerships or with partners selected by cutting the deck. If you cut the deck for partners, the two highest cards take on the two lowest cards.

Make sure the partners sit opposite each other. In partnership games, you almost always sit across from your partner, probably to keep you off each other’s throats.

Striking a Fair Deal

You can select the dealer at random, or you can deal out the cards until a jack appears. Whoever gets the jack becomes the dealer.

The dealer shuffles the cards and offers them to the player on his left to cut. That player can cut the deck or tap (bump) the cards to indicate that no cut is necessary.

You deal the cards clockwise. Just to make the game interesting, the dealer deals out five cards, face-down, in packets of two to each player and then three to each player (or three then two if you absolutely insist). Go figure. After dealing the cards, you turn over one card and place it in the middle of the table on top of the other three unused cards. These three cards, or the kitty, play no further part in the hand. The upturned card represents the trump suit (see the section “Determining the Trump Suit” later in this chapter).

At the end of each hand, the deal rotates clockwise.

A misdeal can occur in several ways, but, for the most part, no serious consequences arise from a misdeal. If the deal is flawed for whatever reason — because a card turns over on the table, the deck has a face-up card in it, or the deck contains the wrong number of cards — you cancel the deal and redeal the hand.

If a player deals out of turn and someone notices before he turns the top card over, you cancel the deal. However, if the player turns the top card up before anyone notices, the deal stands, and whoever misses her deal simply loses out. (As you see later, in the section “Determining the Trump Suit,” dealing carries an advantage, so you don’t want to skip your deal.)

If a player receives the wrong number of cards and discovers it before the first trick starts, a redeal takes place with no penalties. If the error isn’t corrected in time, however, play continues, and whichever team has the player with the wrong number of cards can’t score on that hand. The moral of the story is: Count your cards!

Determining the Trump Suit

After the deal is complete, the dealer turns over the top card of the four remaining cards. This is called the upcard, and it determines what the trump suit is for the current hand. The remaining three cards play no part in the current hand.

The trump suit represents the boss suit, meaning that a trump card beats any card in any other suit. In Euchre, you have to follow the suit that the first player leads (play a card in the same suit), but if you can’t follow suit, you can play a trump card and win the trick (unless someone plays a higher trump card).

The dealer can add the turned-up card to his hand and discard an unwanted card of his choice — under certain circumstances (we explain those circumstances in the section “Bidding for Tricks”).

Jacking Up the Card Rankings

When you pick up your hand, you can sort it into suits. The standard ranking order applies — within each suit, the ace is high, and the values descend to the lowly 9.

The only exception to the normal ranking rules lies in the trump suit, which ranks as follows:

The highest trump card is the jack of the trump suit, often referred to as the right bower (rhyming with “flower” and deriving from the German word bauer, which means “jack” — surprise, surprise!).

In England, you play the game with a joker, which ranks as the master trump. The joker is known as the Benny, or the Best Bower.
The second-highest trump card is the other jack of the same-color suit, often called the left bower. The jack deserts its own suit and becomes a trump card for the hand; for example, the ♠J ceases to be a spade when clubs are the trump suit — it becomes a club.
The remaining five cards in the trump suit are the ace, king, queen, 10, and 9, ranking from highest to lowest in that order.

For example, if clubs are the trump suit, the cards rank in the order shown in Figure 6-1. Diamonds and hearts rank from the ace through 9 in the normal fashion.

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FIGURE 6-1: Card ranks when clubs are the trump suit.

Bidding for Tricks

After you pick and sort your cards, you get a chance to make your bid. Everyone sees what card gets turned over for the trump suit; the question is whether anyone wants to bid to take three or more tricks with that suit as the trump suit. Each player gets the chance to take on that assignment or refuse the invitation. If all players refuse, the bidding goes into its second phase. To make your decision, you need to value your hand for play in the trump suit.

Because the second phase of the game involves playing with the trump suit of your choice, you also have to look at your hand and value it for play in a different trump suit.

Starting the bidding

Each player in turn, starting with the player on the dealer’s left, can agree to play the suit of the upcard in the middle of the table as trump on behalf of his or her partnership, or each player can pass. If any player accepts the suit of the upcard as the trump suit, the dealer adds the upcard to his hand and throws one card away face-down.

The partnership that makes the decision to take three or more tricks (as opposed to passing) is referred to as the makers, and the other players are the defenders. You follow these protocols during the first round of bidding:

The first player either plays with the predetermined trump suit, called ordering it up (meaning that he asks the dealer to pick up the upcard), or he passes by saying “I pass.”
The second player, the dealer’s partner, can pass, or she can accept the current trump suit by saying “Partner, I assist,” “I’ll help you,” or “Pick it up.”
The third player follows the pattern for the first hand by ordering the trump up or passing.
The dealer accepts the choice of the trump suit by saying “I pick it up” and taking up the card to add it to his hand, or he rejects the card by saying “Over” or “I turn it down.”

If he rejects the trump suit, he takes the upcard and puts it face-up at a right angle to the deck below the other three cards to indicate what suit isn’t acceptable as the trump suit for the second round of bidding (see the later section “Entering the second phase of bidding” for more information).

Knowing what to bid

The most delicate strategy in the game hinges on your decision to accept the trump suit and make a bid or not. As a general rule, you should expect your partner to help you get one trick. If you look at the tricks you think you can take from your hand and see two sure tricks, you have enough to consider bidding. If you hold three good trump cards, you definitely have enough to make a bid.

You must also consider whether a different trump suit may work better for you and your partner. If no one wants to play in the initial trump suit, each player has a chance to select a different trump suit, so evaluating your hand for both purposes is important.

The state of the score is also critical. Euchre is played to a set target; if you (or your opponent) are close to winning, consider whether your hand plays better in the specified trump suit than another suit. Picking that suit as trump may be your best chance to win — or stop your opponents from winning.

You get rewarded if you succeed in your bid and penalized if you fail, so you want to get your decision right if you can. If you fail to get the required three tricks, you get euchred — hence the name of the game. (See the section “Tallying Your Score” later in this chapter for all the scoring information.)

Each member of the partnership who didn’t deal the hand — with the member to the dealer’s left being the first to speak on both the first and second rounds of bidding — needs a relatively good hand to accept the trump suit on the first round. You shouldn’t accept the trump suit without at least three probable tricks in the early phases of the game (and thus before tactical considerations of the state of the match enter into the equation). The non-dealing partnership gets first crack at selecting the trump suit on the second round of bidding if everyone passes, which is an advantage. In addition, the fact that the dealer picks up a trump card tilts the odds in his favor and pushes his side toward making an aggressive bid to select the trump suit in the first round.

Keep in mind that the left bower (the second-highest jack) may be of more use to you during the second round of bidding, particularly if you aren’t the dealer. If you have the left bower, consider passing the trump suit on the first round and then selecting the suit of the same color on the second round. The dealer doesn’t get to take the upcard to improve his hand, and your left bower becomes the boss trump card, the right bower. Of course, you won’t enjoy a second round of bidding if another player accepts the initial trump suit, but that’s a risk you have to take if you don’t have a good enough hand to order up the trump suit.

A variation to the bidding is played widely in Australia, England, and Canada. If the partner of the dealer accepts the trump suit, she must accept on her own (thereby playing solo; see the section “Playing for Bigger Stakes Alone” later in this chapter) instead of accepting for the partnership.

Entering the second phase of bidding

If all four players pass on the trump suit, you turn the top card down, thereby eliminating the dealer’s inherent advantage. On the second round of bidding, players may again accept the responsibility of going for three tricks, naming any other suit as the trump suit. You can’t bid the suit of the original upturned card during the second bidding stage. That suit is only a possible trump suit for the first round.

If a player on the second round calls the same trump suit as the upturned card, her side can’t participate in the bidding.

Again, the bidding goes around the table, starting with the player on the dealer’s left, who can pass or name the trump suit. If she passes, the next player has the same choices, and so on around the table. Whoever selects a trump suit wins the bidding — now all the partnership has to do is make the bid good. If all four players pass, you throw the hand in, and the next player deals a new hand.

In a variation called “stick the dealer,” the dealer must call trump at his second turn if no one else has taken on the responsibility. The penalty for failure remains the same for him as if he had voluntarily taken on the task.

Don’t forget your jacks; they become very valuable when trump is up in the air. Also remember to value the jack in the suit of the same color as the trump suit. As soon as you or someone else nominates a new trump suit, a previously irrelevant jack may suddenly become very powerful.

If the dealer doesn’t accept the original trump card, it normally implies that he doesn’t hold a bower (jack) in the trump suit or in the same color. (If he does, he may well have gone for the original suit as the trump suit.) If you don’t know whether to bid and what suit to select as the trump suit, the nondealers should go for the suit of the same color as the initial trump suit, and the dealer’s partner should go for a trump suit of the other color.

At the end of the bidding, both sides go for at least three tricks. If the bid comes on the first round, the dealer picks up the upcard and puts it in his hand. If you make trump on the second round, whoever chooses the trump suit announces it, and the dealer leaves the upcard alone. Is that all there is to the game? Not quite.

Tallying Your Score

The team that chooses the trump suit and then wins three or four tricks scores 1 point. If the side that makes trump gets all five tricks, it marches or sweeps the hand, and the team scores 2 points.

Three tricks are necessary to fulfill the obligations you assume when you determine the trump suit.

If the makers fail to fulfill the trick obligation, the defenders score 2 points (whether they get three, four, or five tricks) — they have euchred the makers. However, the biggest score comes if you go solo (see below) and make all five tricks: 4 points.

The first team to 10 points reaches game and wins. You can also play to 5 points for a shorter game.

You don’t need to write down the scores to keep track of the running totals. Serious Euchre players often use playing cards, placed one on top of the other, to keep their totals. Specifically, you need an extra 2 and 3 to keep score with playing cards. To indicate one point, you turn up the 3 and put the 2 face-down to cover all but one spot. Showing 2 and 3 are easy, of course. For 4, you put both cards face-up with the 3 partly over the 2. If you play to 10 points, some people use a 6 and a 4.

Playing for Bigger Stakes Alone

A player with a particularly good hand can raise the stakes by opting to play the hand alone. The player who selects the trump suit has this option. As soon as you indicate your intention of going alone, your partner puts his cards face-down, for this hand alone, and the game becomes three-handed.

A hand with the top three trump cards (♠J, ♣J, ♠A, for example) is often a sure thing for going alone, especially if you have an off-suit ace. Two of the top three trumps and an ace on the side may be enough, but you may want a little more for insurance.

Why would you want to play alone? The only reason for doing so is if you have a guaranteed three tricks with a serious chance of making five tricks with your hand alone. If you make three or four tricks, you score the game the same as you do in partnership situations (see the section “Tallying Your Score” earlier in this chapter for details). But if you make all five tricks, as maker, you score 4 points.

Another game version states that the penalty for getting euchred when a defender goes alone is doubled. This provides the incentive for a defender going alone.

Going alone has no real advantage unless you have a good chance to make five tricks on your own; otherwise, you simply increase the chance of a penalty without any chance of increasing the rewards. With three sure winners in your hand, you must ponder whether your remaining cards give you a chance for a clean sweep. If not, play in your partnership and hope that your partner can come through with the goods for your feeble cards.

For example, say that your partner is the dealer, the ♣9 is the upcard, and you have the hand in Figure 6-2.

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FIGURE 6-2: A promising hand; how many tricks can you take?

This hand isn’t assured of winning you three tricks, although it’s heavily favored to do so. However, if the ♠J is in your partner’s hand, is one of the three cards in the muck, or is in one of your opponents’ hands without any other trump cards accompanying it (and you see three trump cards out of the seven already), you stand a fair chance of making five tricks. Still, the odds of your partner making the vital difference are almost nonexistent because you can either win the tricks on your own or not at all. The hand in Figure 6-2 is an excellent hand to go solo on.

Before deciding whether to go alone, here are two factors that may influence you. If the score is such that getting four points may be critical (your opponents are close to winning and you are three or four points away), that may tempt you to go for the bigger gamble. Additionally your chances of going alone and getting all five tricks are rather better on a two-suited hand than a one-suiter. With three high trumps and the A-10 in a side suit you may well find yourself taking the last two tricks, whereas the bare 10 in a side-suit is far less likely to win the last trick.

Tricking for Points, Not Treats

After the opening lead is made (typically by the player to the dealer’s left but not always), the play goes clockwise around the table. You must follow suit (play a card in the suit led) if you can, but if you can’t, throw off any card or play a trump card as you see fit. Whoever plays the highest card of the suit led, or the highest trump card if one or more trumps have been played on the trick, wins that trick.

When a player goes alone, the hand on her left leads to the first trick. If both a defender and a maker go alone, the defender leads.

Failure to follow suit when you can do so is called a revoke or renege. You must correct a revoke before the winner gathers the trick. If another player identifies a revoke, the innocent side may add 2 points to its score or deduct 2 points from the guilty side. If your side is going alone and one of the opponents revokes, the penalty is 4 points.

We can offer only limited advice in the play of the cards. Part of the game lies in memorizing the cards played. You have to think about who may have what cards left to determine what to lead and what to throw away, when you have a choice. For example, the original trump card is one that you want to remember; if the dealer adds it to his hand, don’t forget it.

If you have the opening lead and you have two or more trump cards, consider leading them. You should certainly lead a high trump if your partner called the trump suit because it helps your partner locate the missing cards. Otherwise, lead from a sequence if you have one. Start with high cards to help out your partner so he doesn’t waste his high cards unnecessarily. For example, if hearts are trump, you could lead the ♠A or ♣A to try to win a trick.

Unlike some other card games, saving a winner for a rainy day in Euchre generally has no advantage. Take your tricks when you can, or you may never get them.